Meeting Abstract
The physiological impact of stress and its adaptive potential are areas of interest in the fields of ecology and biology, as we are in a time of increased anthropomorphically induced perturbations. In addition to mediating the link between environmental variability and organismal plasticity, such as changes in behavior and fitness, GCs are also a mechanistic translator between mothers and their offspring. We tested the hypothesis that chronic stress will alter maternal behavior and body condition as well as offspring morphology. We treated wild caught gravid female eastern fence lizards (Sceloporus undulatus) daily with transdermal applications of GCs at an ecologically relevant dose (GC response similar to a fire ant attack) from capture to ovoposition. Eggs were collected and incubated until hatching. We found that stressed females basked less, had higher blood glucose, and lost significantly more weight during gestation compared to controls. Maternal stress did not affect egg morphology or hatchling mass, but did increase hatchling snout-vent length. These results suggest that stress experienced by a gravid female has ecologically relevant effects on hatchling morphology which may be mediated by changes in the behavior, metabolism, and egg allocation of the gravid female.
